Swoopo is an interesting find for me. The basic idea is that of an auction site. They feature primarily tech stuff/video games/personal electronics. OK, nothing new there.
However, they boast that these items are selling at ridiculously low prices. An xBox 360 just went for sub $20, most items are 50-80% off retail. How do they have such good bargains? Is it just that nobody’s heard of them yet so they’re getting away with a steal?
Not exactly.
For one, this isn’t “peer to peer” auctioning where consumers sell to consumers. The products being auctioned are actually posted by Swoopo. Then how do they keep the prices so low? Simple. They sell the right to bid. Every bid you submit sets you back $1. Well, that could be quite the bargain, right? I mean, you bid $1 and get a Wii for $70 (a $250 value for about $80 shipped). Not bad indeed. But then the caveats come crashing in:
First, every time you bid you extend the clock. That means no swooping in at the last second on an auction so you avoid the bidding war. eBay has us trained to believe that when there’s only a few minutes left and the price on an auction is still low, that’s the time to strike a bargain. Well, the time remaining on Swoopo is always low, encouraging bidding. The bids then extend the length of the auction up to a month or so from the time listed, meaning an auction can have less than a minute left for days, in theory.
Second, you don’t have the option of placing a high bid (but one that would still be a good bargain). For example, let’s say I want to bid $200 in a single bid at the last second for a Wii that’s currently listed at $45. Not so fast. Bid increments are set at $0.15. What? Well, yeah, that keeps the prices ridiculously low on expensive items. Meanwhile, remember that every time somebody bids, Swoopo gets $1. Not going to be around for the end of an auction? They have an automatic bidding tool that will take care of it for you. The problem? If somebody else has that tool, they will, in just a matter of seconds, burn through all the bids (remember, each worth $1) they’ve been allotted.
Some quick math for you (numbers may not be exact, but the principle’s the same). Let’s suppose they sell a Nintendo Wii for $45. At 15 cents/bid, that’s 300 bids. At 1 dollar / bid, that’s $300. Add that to the $45 plus about $10 shipping and they get $355 for a system they could buy retail for $250. One person gets a good deal on a Wii, but lots of people lose money in the process.
The long and short of it? Swoopo’s going to make bank. It’s a clever setup. It appears to feed on human competition and bargain hunters. I just hope whoever’s behind it has completely shrugged off their conscience so they can sleep at night in their bed of bid-bought-booty.
Update:
This is a little delayed, but Gadgetell posted an interesting interview with Chris Bauman. It kind of reminds me of ‘Thank You For Smoking’ - if Swoopo does get sued out of existence, I think Chris might make a great lobbyist for the tobacco industry. Just my opinion.
September 26th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
First, let me say that I work for Swoopo, in the Cupertino, CA office.
Second, I do agree very much to your idea that eBay has trained many of us to think that their model is how an auction works. While profitable, eBay’s auctions don’t function like a live auction.
Third, I wanted to let you know that on 70% of our auctions, Swoopo does not make enough money from bids to cover the cost of the product. So, it is a bit of a gamble for us in hopes that we can cover all of our product costs with the remaining 30% of the auctions.
September 26th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Chris,
I appreciate the non-defensive and informative feedback. It’s always great to have someone reply to a blog post in a way that actually adds something to general information about the topic of the post.
September 26th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
No need for hatred, I always say.
September 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 30th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Nice try Chris, for your nice attitude. While I won’t completely believe you and your claims. Swoopo makes more than enough to make up for in the %30. Much much more.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
It’s a scam. Plain and simple.
Log in to swoopo.com and look look at the laptops. Then in another browser window go to swoopo.co.uk and look at the laptops. The swoopo gangsters sell a $1200 laptop and a £1200 laptop (which are totally different models and specifications) on each site but they combine the bids. For example see:
http://www.swoopo.co.uk/auction/acer-aspire-8920g-18-4-core-2-duo-notebo/104120.html
and
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/sony-vaio-vgn-fw140e-16-4-core2duo-vista/104120.html
This is TOTALLY FRAUDULENT - AND CRIMINAL!!!
How these guys get away with this is beyond me. I might as well be bidding on an Andy Warhol in NYC and someone else standing in London bidding on a Corvette and the bids being combined.
This site needs shut down, and the german guy that’s running is locked up.
October 7th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Tim,
Interesting light to shed on the subject. I’d point out that with a penny auction, it looks like Swoopo sold that laptop for over $17,000 USD.
I’d be interested to hear how Chris Bauman would reply to this subject. Does Swoopo use the same auction for different items in different countries to increase the bid pool?
It makes sense for them, since you don’t have the same daily ebbs and flows of traffic. (Things are busier in the UK when they’re dead in the US).
October 7th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
HAHAHAHA…..saying swoopo doesn’t make money on 70% of their auctions. That’s funny. I wonder how they are still around??? Gee?????
October 7th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Chuck,
Well, arguably, I could sell 10 products that cost me $10 each. If I sell 7 at $9, but 3 at $100, my overall profit is $263. So I’ve made a pretty penny but could still say that I’d lost money on 70% of my sales. So, his fact could be correct.
I’d be curious when that data was accurate, though. I’ve looked through the auctions recently and there don’t seem to be many if any that are going for a loss.
Again, Chris, I’d appreciate a response.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
first for Chris to paint swoopo as a charitable organization is ludacris. no business has it in its business model to lose money; so don’t give us this crap about not covering your cost on 70% of the auctions. let us be clear that every $100 in bids means $666 for swoopo so if an auction rises to say $800, it means that they make $5,333. its true that if you happened to be the last bidder and you only spend one dollar biding you got off cheap but this hardly ever happens and over the long or short run you are bound to lose and swoopo is bound to win big - Vegas anybody!!
October 20th, 2008 at 10:20 am
this is a scam..went to the website..bought some bids, I”ll stick with ebay. This place is a rip off
October 21st, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Be creative and you’ll break the swoopo code. Right now I’m working on some models that will help the average Joe work effectively and efficiently on the auctions without wasting your money.
Give me a few days and I’ll have some research for sale on my site. Send me a message at beatswoopo@gmail.com if you want some more info.
Good luck bidding guys and there’s a way around the madness on
October 21st, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Yes, it is a ripoff. do a simple search in google for
Namiansisa - as i noticed, $50 too late, that Namiansisa
was the one person doing autobids (via BidButler) that was always jacking up the price. Law and behold, Namiansisa actually bids all over the world, germany, UK… you get the point. As in any Casino the house always wins. Let me know send the networks an email.
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:15 am
Well spotted Hector:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Namiansisa&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Namiansisa might not be the house. Could be a person realizing potential for overseas purchases to save money if shipping is cheaper.
Look deeper into the hidden costs.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:33 am
thanks for posting this i joined yesterday i have just closed my account
what a bunch of scammers
thanks again for the post
October 29th, 2008 at 1:21 am
The guy working for Swoopo made a statement about eBay
brain-washing us to believe the eBay model is how an
auction should be and that Ebay auctions are not how
real life auctions are like.
Well, I guess in real-life, everyone who wants to bid
on something would need to first purchase the amount of
bids they want for $1 each and cannot redeem it back
even if they decide not to bid on anything? And in
real-life auctions, the price goes up by a fixed amount
whenever everyone submit their bid at $1/bid?
In the real-life auctions that I know of, the price
goes up by the amount submitted by the last bid and
people do not have to pay money everytime they make a
bid. In this case they lose money just to bid. The
Swoopo way is exactly opposite of real-life auctions.
The only thing that’s real about Swoopo is that their
auctions end within a certain amount of time after the
last bid (going once, going twice, sold!).
Tell everyone to stay away from Swoop.com unless t
they’re willing to gamble.
There is only one guaranteed winner (Swoopo) and a
whole lot of people losing money at $1/bid everything
they try to grab something for cheap.
Swoopo also operated illegally in several states
without proper commerce permits. Also, once you buy
your bids, there is no way get your money back for
unused bids. It’s very much like gambling and not an
auction. However, in most gambling you could cash-out
anytime you like and trade in your chips for cash. Not
at Swoopo. They really want to take your money!
In no auction do you have pay every time you submit a
bid. You only pay when you are the highest bidder. With
Wwoopo, you pay to bid and you pay again to buy with
many of the “auctions”.
STAY AWAY!
One thing I want to make a note is…
From my experience, sometimes I sit there and keep
refreshing my screen what seems like minutes after the
last bid. It seemed like the auctions should have
ended 20 secs. after the last bid is placed if no more
bid is submitted. However, the moment I submit a bid
minutes after the last one, I either get outbid within
a few seconds or sometimes even a minute of two
afterwards when I thought I’ve already won the auction.
SO BEWARE! THERE IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING NOT RIGHT
ABOUT SWOOPO!
October 29th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I have proof that this damn thing is a scam. I have seen this several times before, but the site clearly uses BOTS and misinforms individuals. Here is a screenshot taken from someone who was making HUNDREDS OF BIDS. (I WAS WATCHING THIS)…then when the auction ENDED, it said the person only used…..ONE BID. (AND ZERO “FREE BIDS”) You don’t even have to take my word for it, the screenshot speaks for itself!!!! (Just look at the “Bid History” and you can plainly see at LEAST 4 bids!) This site is a TOTAL SCAM.
http://www.screenshothost.com/screens/_5369385.gif
1. You have NO WAY OF KNOWING whether the product really exists or not.
2. YOU HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING IF THE PERSON WHO WON IS REAL OR NOT (No profiles, no contact info, NOTHING).
I spent 20 bucks on this crap, but now I’m done. SCAM! STAY AWAY!
Here is the PROOF:
http://www.screenshothost.com/screens/_5369385.gif
October 29th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
LESSEFFECTIVE,
I’d appreciate it if you could check out the screenshot above and comment on it or respond; or ask Mr. Bauman what the hell is going on. Email me back if you hear anything as I’m dying to know how Swoopo can explain away that doozy.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
First of all, for the people who claim that swoopo.com is a scam… you may want to check your strategies on playing the game. If you’re like me and lucky enough to win, then you may have something positive to say about the website.
October 31st, 2008 at 5:42 pm
****Disclaimer - I work for Swoopo****
The above screen shot, I believe to be tampered, as does my entire team. If you read the URL in the screen shot captured by “Proof that it is a scam” - the last 6 digits are the auction ID number. That is our standard format. Here is the actual auction end page.
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/113053.html
You can clearly see that the winner used 201 bids to win.
To address your other 2 concerns:
1 - Every item on our site is real, and is won by real people. To date over $1.5 Million in products have been won and shipped to winners globally.
2 - We do not have bidder profiles, but we are never going to publish our bidder’s contact information. That would be a violation of privacy. But, you can contact anyone at Swoopo - http://www.swoopo.com/feedback.html?sli=1
Unless you live in the Silicon Valley, Munich or London, where all of our offices are, then I guess you will have to take us at our word that we are real.
@Hector, @Duarte, @Dave, the user names of bidders will appear on everyone of our domains. Why? Most every auction that we have is a global auction. So, on the .com site, you will see bidders that have registered on the .de site and are bidding on the same auction. No, Namiansisa is not a bot, or clever shipping magnate. Just a username.
Hope this clears things up a bit.
November 1st, 2008 at 7:13 pm
If people actually knew how to bid at the right time, maybe people wouldn’t get scammed, I won many things from Swoopo, everything works fine, everything is brand new. But yeah, sure, its a gambling site, so you will think its a scam when you buy bids, but yet it doesn’t stop people for bidding at a poker game at a casino.
November 1st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
The only thing that has value on swoopo is bids. You want to beat the system then you need to use some real money to bid on a few blocks of 300 bids, Then you use those blocks of bids to bid on other blocks of bid. Do this until you have created a momentum of what should be an endless pool of bids. Then start to use that endless pool to bid on and win items. Turn those items around on ebay.
November 4th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
this site drives on greed of the economist? and or stupidity.
If you cant see that they sell the product for cheaper
but due to greed you wont let that person have it at that cheap price.
I saw a phone sell for $20 and they said actual price $49., .15 cents into $20 ($133 plus 20 = $155)
they cant loose.
They did not sell a phone they sold chance (bids dollars) to get a phone at a low price.
the only way they dont get 2,3,5ect percent profit
is if they sell a square that fits into a round hole
(something nobody actully wants)
They Also “Auction” bids forsale
CLEVER SETUP
BUT A MORAL SCAM NONE THE LESS
IF THEY CLASSIFY THEM SELVES AS CASINO
THIER PROFITS WILL GO 1000 PERCENT CAUSE THAT GREEDY PERSON NOW HAS THE MONKEY ON HIS BACK.
ITS GAMBLING SAY SO AND HECK I WOULD EVEN TRY A DOLLAR OR TWO, YEAH RIGHT LOL
THANKS RD
November 5th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Chris, it would be nice if it was made clear on the Swoopo homepage that most of the auctions are international. I mean come on, if you’re on the Swoopo uk website and see auctions priced in GBP, then one would assume that particular auction has UK based participants *only*. I mean you only find out the quoted information when you click on the help page:
“Why the 7p increase? It’s because many auctions run internationally and are priced in Euros in other countries. To keep things fair, we convert 10 euro cents to 7p (that’s about £1 = €1.43).”
And tbh, I was watching an auction on a Wii Fit package, opened another window to the US Swoopo and saw the *exact* same auction being played out (with the same countdown and same bidder names), this time converted to US dollars. So please, even if after all your claims you insist on being fair or whatever, at least try and make things a bit more clearcut for idiots like me who sign up.
November 5th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Oh, and clear up the confusion I have with this:
http://www.swoopo.co.uk/auction/-40-cash-/104839.html
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/-40-cash-/104839.html
Same winner, different currency..?
November 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
It seems that the user Namiansisa is a human. Did a Google search on the user and it came up with this:
http://feedback.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=namiansisa&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller
Seems as if Namiansisa is a German user who bids on Swoopo with the intention of flogging the stuff on eBay.
Sweet.
November 9th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
http://www.screenshothost.com/screens/_5369385.gif
That link is verified and true! I don’t even know HOW to doctor screen shots for godssake!! Any technician on your site could easily go to a closed auction and change the amount of bids the “winner” used….so its much easier for you to doctor your webpage than it is fro me to doctor a screen shot.
Chris, if you are running a legitimate GAMBLING SITE, than good for you, but honestly, that screen shot came from your website. Please, please, DO NOT make the mistake of calling the community a pack of liars and just admit it if your site has a programming error because that screen shot is 100% real. (I’ve seen the same “error” on multiple occasions). So either you are in a state of denial or you are just trying to cover something up. Either way, you should TELL THE TRUTH.
Also, how does contacting SWOOPO do anything about being able to see the information on OTHER USERS?? How do we know if they are even REAL? We don’t!! Your site is shady and it such a deceptive company….i feel bad that they made you the scape goat for maintaining is reputation because it honestly will get shut down soon… (trust me, as a laywer, I know)
November 12th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Rofl @ you!
November 12th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Chris,
Thanks for addressing most of the comments. However you missed out the most interesting one - that of Tim Forrester (October 7th, 2008 at 1:43 pm). You confirm that the last six digits are the auction ID, and that your auctions are international, so Tim’s concerns and observations seem to have some grounding. What isn’t explained is how the items auctioned can be different??? Two auctions and only one winner - now that’s just wrong. These aren’t screen grabs, not tampered with - just links to finished auctions.
I’d love an explanation.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:26 am
well i dont know if chris is telling the truth but swoopo is truly a scam. when a “penny auction” is held, they make $100 for every dollar the auction goes up. i have seen $1899 tvs go up to $3500. that means they made roughly $160,000 on bids alone! on 1 tv. usually they have 10 tvs going at a time. if those end in a week, they made $1,600,000 on just a section of the site in a week. in a month they make $6,400,000. somebody please correct me, that sum just seems too big…
November 14th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I just tried it for the first time and I tried bidding on 50 free bids in the first timers area. I did notice a random name bidding far more than 50 times which had me wondering. I mean I know people are dumb but not that dumb are they? It is definitely a scam. It would be great if they provided transparency to the whole thing and they should be investigated. When it was all said a done that random name won the 50 bids, now I’m feeling like the stupid one for $20 that I spent, what a rip off but lesson learned!
November 16th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Hey everyone,
I know I posted on here a little while back, but I wanted to let you know that I just finished my ebook (on sale on my website for $19.99) that I feel will greatly help some of you that feel they are at a loss on Swoopo.com. Feel free to jump over to my website at http://www.beatswoopo.com and check things out. Also, don’t hesitate to email me at at either of the following:
beatswoopo@gmail.com
support@beatswoopo.com
Cheers and happy bidding!
-Dave
November 17th, 2008 at 12:07 am
omg i just started swoopo and won a Ps3 for 28 buck! it came today! it works! i only bid 2 times! wow i guess im lucky, eh?
November 17th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Well I don’t know what the deal is I opened an account and won the first day.It cost me some bids at first but when u figure it out its a snap.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I describe Swoopo as you being a jockey in a horse race and playing 8 bingo cards at the same time. If swoopo were a scam it most certainly will be shut dowm eventually. As it becomes more popular and more people become disenchanted, more notifications go out to the net authorities. Gambling falls under the gise of entertainment and swoopo is just that. I’ve tried all the different auctions and a multitude of stratgies and I have not won. With that being said I do not think they are a scam. Lastly I have seen a couple disturbing things that needs comment. There are people who are hooked or addicted to swoopo. After an auction has ended I look at the savings percentage, on a very recent flat screen auction I saw 0%. This person wanted to win so bad he placed 2493 bids for a MSRP of $1199.00, date 11/16/08. That does not include the $169.00 to buy and ship the TV. Next after studying and bidding myself, I begin to recognize the bidders names and they are cranking out the bids. Where are getting the money? Some are on free bids but OMG! Some names you seem to see them 24/7. not with the bid butler system but with single bids.
I think there are deals to be had here but I would careful Pride,greed and addiction are in all us it’s the one who walks away with the most money in their pocket, not toys, who wins.
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I’m sorry but this explanation of international bidders is BS! Unless the person on the website through single bid auctions has Octopus arms and about 10 computers, there is no way they can be bidding all over the place.
I have seen many bids end showing a total of bids from the winner being as one, but the actual bid history has more than just one. It is either a programming glitch, or I would believe in my oipnion a bot glitch.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:22 am
Sounds like we all need to start our own Swoopo, and start raking in the cash.
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:55 am
If it’s not a SCAM it will do until one comes along as they used to say! STAY AWAY!
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:57 am
If it’s not a SCAM it will do until one comes along as they used to say! STAY AWAY!
I have never posted here before and tried Swoopo only today.
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:45 am
SWOOPO has a “time bomb” business model:
* Devise a business model whereby you make a little money from a lot of unsuspecting people, until they eventually come to realize that they’re being had. By the time the “word gets out”, you’ve made millions and can close up shop without a worry.
The key to Swoopo’s business model is to make people PAY to bid. Those payments more than fund the difference of the winner’s auction price from the wholesale cost of the item. AND as more people get interested in an auction, such as for an iPod Touch 16Gb seeming to go for a very low price, the price may even close HIGHER than RETAIL. Swoopo ends up making a KILLING.
BTW, check out the VERY LAST paragraph on their terms document:
We would like to advise all users to monitor their bidding practices. Placing bids online at
www.Swoopo.com frequently or repeatedly can incur high costs. Users should therefore pay
attention to their bidding practices and check their charges regularly
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:21 am
SWOOPO is a fraudulent business.
SWOOPO is a fraudulent business.
SWOOPO is a fraudulent business.
They are fraudulent in that the “deal” is an ILLUSION. They make money off of people placing a bid, as it costs $1 per bid. They then advertise the use of their “Bid Butler” that will bid for you. Guess what? EVERYTIME the Bid Butler bids, it costs you $1. Swoopo is more than happy to make you pay by letting bidders activate multiple Bid Butlers on the same auction. There is one winner to the auction and many losers, all of whom pay Swoopo.
I am amazed that this outfit was not shut down in Europe, where regulations tend to be more strict. Their approach must be to confuse everyone. Very clever. The website looks like an auction site, but it is not. They ship out merchandise to the winner, which is legitimate. So… the illusion is pulled off. No wonder why that states in the USA are progressively catching on and banning this Swoopo service.
BAN THEM! BAN SWOOPO! REPORT THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS!
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
There are a lot of people who don’t seem to piece together the logic of this system. First off, how hard is it to figure out that one item is being bid on internationally? Yes, there is a listing on the Germany site, and the US site, and Britain site…and…the same person won all of them. Could it be that they are the same auction displayed in local currencies? No, that would be to easy. It must be a conspiracy.
As for everyone’s math, do a little research. If an item sells at a fixed price of $69 to the winner of the auction, what do you care if the bidding gets up to a $1,000,000? Your bid still only costs you one dollar and is completely dependent upon timing and the whim of you competitors. Why hate a company for profiting? It is the way the world works.
As for whomever said that charging to enter a contest is illegal in their state…take a look at the registration. They do not serve Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Tennessee, Vermont, Puerto Rico and protectorates.
It is all about reading folks. All of it, not just enough to scorn.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
http://www.toddedwards.us/img/swoopo_scamo.png
Original Item:
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/-1-000-cash-/120421.html
How do you justify an auction for $1000 cash currently with a bid of $2682.75 @ $1 per $.15 bid?! Get real.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Actually, they dont have to pay for the $1000bux. The highest bidder just wins it. It says 100% off
November 24th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I looked at the screen shot and if you look at the bid history, the bottom bid runs over the over the break line. This screenshot was doctored. take a look at the bottom Palou and you’ll see what I’m saying.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Look at this link and tell me a bot didn’t do the bidding, no one is stupid enough to spend more for less, that’s bullshit:
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/300-freebids-voucher/121738.html
Here is another prime example of a bidding bot. They spent roughly $580 on a $475 product.
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/samsung-nc10-10-2-netbook/123119.html
and come on, 2000 $1 bids on a thousand bucks?
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/-1-000-cash-/120421.html
Chris you have some explaining.
November 25th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
If it’s a 100% off auction the winner still has to pay the bids he placed, doesn’t he?
November 25th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
you all need to read more carefully… read up on what the “100%” off stuff means. it makes sense to bid five trillion dollars for 50 free bids - because after 100% is deducted from five trillion dollars, you pay nothing. if you’re the last person to place that bid (the five-trillionth bid), then you spend 1 dollar and win 50 bids. very simple. just read. a simiar scenario goes for fixed price items. you people who are calling swoopo users “morons” for bidding higher than the item cost… you are the real morons! do some reading and you’ll see how right they are.
pretty much, see Jorge’s post above, he understands it. furthermore, it is my opinion that swoopo isnt doing anything wrong… its their business, they give the literature to educate you - if you’re too dumb to read and understand it, don’t use it.
November 25th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I apologize for some of my spelling and a few of the double words. I type all day so at the end of my day, fat-fingered keystrokes are the in
Just a note match=math
November 26th, 2008 at 1:23 am
Alright, I just mailed the Swoopo support team and they said that you have to pay for the bids you placed. That way the end price has not to be paid(100%off-auction), while you still have to pay for the bids you placed(e.g. 200 bids = 200$). So it’s pretty stupid to place 2000 bids to win 1000 free bids.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:50 am
I’m not denying that the people behind swoopo are some smart fuckers, maybe without morals but smart nonetheless.
I just want me an affordable laptop
November 26th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Victums are bidding a Philips 42″ LCD to $2011.35 now, and the time are extended for 40min more, seems that there are a lot of victums using the bidbulter.
That means Swoopo is earning $2011.35/0.15 = $13,409 the mas. If half of them are free bids and half are paid bids, Swoopo is earning lots of money.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Swoopo is using Ad by Google to place the link of Swoopo to various shopping or BlackFriday web sites. They are driving a lot of shoppers to their site. Google should have stop selling ad for them.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I have submitted complaint to Google on their Ad. I hope more complant from others will encourage Google to take action.
http://services.google.com/feedback/abg?url=http://www.theblackfriday.com/&hl=en&client=ca-pub-7538719018238863&adU=www.Swoopo.com&adT=ImageAd&exp=Ads+by+Goooooooogle&done=1
November 26th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
What a RIPOFF!!!! Hopefully people will read the info on this site before they lose their money. STAY AWAY from the SWOOPO site.
November 27th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
We have just contacted Hans from TV in Boston to start an investigation on swoopo.
November 29th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
It may not be a scam but it certainly is inexcusable profiteering.
let’s say a $1300 laptop sells for $200 in a penny auction on Swoopo. $200 worth of pennies is 20,000 and at $1 per bid, the site takes in $20,000 plus the $200 winning bid. Making that much money selling a $1300 product is profiteering.
December 4th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Does anyone know if they are actually selling items, or just having ‘In House’ bidders winning and pocketing all the money??? You thought Video gambling was a scam, welcome to this new scam!!
December 4th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I love the site. Great concept… It’s a win-win situation for everyone: The company earns money, the looser gets entertainment value, and the winner gets a great deal.
Of course they are actually selling the stuff. Maybe 1000 people try to get the same item, if you are the lucky person to bid when the timer ends, you get the item.
Can you buy a $1700. item for 30 clicks? 200 clicks? 1000 clicks?
I would think that every Obama supporter, democrat, and socialist would be head over heels for this kind of thing…
…Everyone working together, pooling their money, to pay for one of us common people to get a great bargain.
And the best part is that it is a lot of fun, and completely voluntary! …Not like when the government takes our money and redistributes it for our own good…
December 5th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I also signed up 4 swoopo thinking it was a bargin though if i bought enough bids I could win so i bought 375 bid the problem was this other bidders would never stop bidding even when they were losing money on the item, the still keep bidding.
Price: $122.19
All prices are in US Dollars
Winner: Deluxe10
This auction ended on
Oct-30-2008, at 22:59 PST
Congratulations,
Deluxe10!
Savings: 0%
Savings:
Worth up to: $1,649.99
Placed bids (2568): $1,926.00
FreeBids (0): $0.00
Final price: $122.19
Savings: $0.0
The person placed 2568 bids obviously a bot willing to pay whatever to win back prize. They must of forgot to edit this one.
Pretty obvious its a scam. I told paypall to investigate and hold the funds frozen. All of a sudden swoopo started to email me and give me the run around after it was clear paypal said they couldnt do anything in this case. Swoopo told me that paypal froze my account so i couldn’t bid. I contacted paypal they said no it was not frozen. Forwarded to swoopo. They told me they were trying to give me back the money that I had not yet spent $200 dollars. Then all of a sudden they stopped replying to my emails. No matter what they would just no respond. My account on swoopo is still blocked with 300 bids that I still can’t use. I paid for them and can’t return them or use them. And they won’t contact me back, been like a month and 7 emails. Save yourself the heart ach dont waste yout time or money on a fraudelent company.
December 5th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Thanks for posting this article for everyones feedback. totally helpful. gonna save me time and money registering with swoopo. Its funny that I went thru alot of these posts and i only saw two posts- from “that guy” and “bid winner” that say they actually won something, the rest of th posts are complaints and I saw a few posts defending the site, but none praising it. To me that’s enough to let me know swoopo probably is not going to work for me. I wonder if “that guy” and “bid winner” are real consumers or if they work for swoopo. hahahaha
December 6th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Thanks for all your contributions. I was very skeptical of the very low priced deals Swoopoo has been advertising. This blog simply confirms the old tried and true adage: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!!!”
December 6th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I think the camera isn’t really a ripoff.
IF YOU SIT THERE AND WAIT IT OUT HOWEVER LONG MAY BE WITH ABOUT 1600 BIDS AND EVENTUALLY YOU’LL.
win with a discount and it doesn’t cost must to ship.
Then sell it on EBAY for like 600$ profit.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:04 am
If you find an auction with a bid butler bidder.
i think the only way to win that item.
is to actually become a bidbutler.
b/c you never know when his bids will run dry.
thats where the luck of singlebidder comes in to play…
December 6th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Its called Entertainment Shopping. What is most gambling considered? Entertainment! What people fail to do is develop a solid strategy in order to win goods or play by the rules that are easily found on their website.
I have purchased bids, haven’t won anything as of yet. But the idea completely feeds into the human condition of getting product for less money. But did swoopo tell you to purchase their bids and you are guaranteed to win? No.
Gotta pay to play, gotta play to win.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Are you serious? How do you figure this is a scam? From the first day I saw and READ how swoopo worked I realized how they were making enough money so that they could give away a macbook for $4.So were is the “scam” part come in? Or maybe you just feel scamed because you actually believed a legitimate sight was “auctioning” off 42″ TV’s for $200 and didn’t realize it till they had already had your $50 in bids. Just cause someone found a clever way to make money doesn’t make it a scam, just means they thought of a way to get 50 dollars our of your pocket with little work.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Well it might not be q popular group. I’m certainly not using them again.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I hated the experience enough to register the domain:
http://www.swoopo-scam.com
Please link to it or forward the URL to compulsive shoppers you may know. Warn them.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I’ve been staring at a couple of active auctions for the past hour and can not imagine how anyone can sit and bid on these things. I mean, with eBay, if you lose your bid at the last second, you scream and yell for a few minutes and move one. Here, if you bid with 2 seconds left, your screen hangs for nearly 5 more seconds and then, suddenly, there are 2 minutes added back to the auction and the prices jumps up by $2. I’d be throwing my monitor out the window by then.
….
At first, I thought this was a pretty cool idea. Now that I’ve had a chance to study it (and read all these responses), I can only imagine a whole bunch of computer nerds at SWOOPO, sitting around their servers going “CHA-CHING CHA-CHING CHA-CHING!!” This is a scam if you try “playing” their little game. If you’re smart, you’ll keep away. Even if you happen to get a good deal the first time, your future bids are going to break ya!
December 10th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
@SimpleMath - I hate to say this, but I totally agree with your comment. “SCAM” usually means your money is taken and no product is received. So, since we haven’t heard anyone say that products are being shipped, then SCAM is probably an incorrect description.
However…
You must admit, they are not freely pointing out how much money you CAN stand to lose on bidding. Their sample “how you bid” screen shows you winning with only one bid. What they SHOULD show is a screen about a mile long on how long it actually takes you to sit, bid, scream when it lags, and continue losing money BEFORE you (might) win.
With eBay, it’s pretty clear how much you are going to pay. And, as a seller, they always have a link next to your starting bid that shows their fees.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Ultimate SCAM… the items on bid are monitored by the workers. You don’t get a chance at a last bid because SWOOP will never let you win the bid. So everyone, pls be weary… SHIT sites like this should be removed. As if we didn’t have enough to deal with in this troubling economy…
December 10th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
…but wait…
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN???
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/wii-nintendo-console-wii-sports/128607.html
OMG - WII for $11.55????
December 10th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Has anyone here actually WON something at an incredible price and has no regrets using this service??
December 10th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I’m not sure I understand why everyone keeps using the “do the math” argument. If 8,000 bids were placed then Swoopo makes “X” for the item. If the bids are non refundable then haven’t they already made their money? The bids are all prepaid.
December 10th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
And, I’m also not sure I understand the “workers are monitoring the auctions” argument either. Do you guys mean that they are monitoring the “hot” auctions or all auctions? Say for instance that they sell 100 PS3s today. How many of them are going for under retail? How many are going for over retail?
December 13th, 2008 at 7:48 am
If the number of bids * price of bids + final auction price > retail price, you lose money. In every other case you save money.
It is only a scam if you neglect doing the math for your bidding. Normally, this is how scams work, they prey in the ignorance of the target.
However, in this case, it is hard to argument that the user did not have basic math skills or that the rules were not properly explained.
Compulsive people are victims of this kind of set up, but if they were compulsive eaters, would they blame McDonalds? It’s an interesting economics question.
Those who vehemently call the system a scam because the company makes money based on the exploitation of a class of people (the buyers), well, you are right. But the scam is the capitalist system, not the web site.
I haven’t seen any proof here that the company manipulates the bidding process. If they did, it would indeed be a scam, but in order to find out you would have to be able to present a court case.
If you make a search in google for how many bids the winner places, you will notice that some people are incredibly stupid (i.e., placing 800 bids for a $600 item).
In the context of the capitalist society, where you spend your time and health (non renewable) working for somebody else who accumulates money (that they will pass down) you will notice that is this stupidity what makes the world go round.
@Michael.
This is the opposite of socialism. In socialism the collective works for the good of the collective. In capitalism the collective works for the good of the individual.
The illusion, both in the capitalist system and in swoopo is that the individual may actually win (call it be rich) when they are actually bound to stay the same or worst by design.
December 13th, 2008 at 9:31 am
@ Franklin: “I haven’t seen any proof here that the company manipulates the bidding process. If they did, it would indeed be a scam, but in order to find out you would have to be able to present a court case.”
I agree completely. The premise of the site is perfectly legal and ethical to me. In fact, it’s a brilliant idea - I wish I thought of it myself. Don’t like spending a couple $? Don’t play then. Always outbid at the last second? Unless you have good proof that it is the operator manipulating the bidding process, please realise that it is the internet and one can well imagine many swoopo addicts across 2 nations waiting for the right time to swoop in.
They are not misrepresenting themselves in any way. Buyers know that they are paying for the bid. I wish I’d thought of this idea myself.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:28 am
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/-1-000-cash-/120421.html
Scam or not who would place 2084 bids costing them $1,563.00 to win $1,000. Does this equal $563 of entertainment?
http://www.swoopo.com/auction/sony-vaio-vgn-fw170j-h-16-4-core-2-duo-n/101046.html
2020 bids costing $1,515.00 to win a laptop worth up to $1,399.99.
Yea, I wasted $22.50 on the site. Virtually impossible to win items.
December 20th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Thank you for this fee back page, and thanks too all whom commented. I was a new used, but not anymore, 100% scam.
December 21st, 2008 at 2:17 am
Please see this item:
http://www.swoopo.co.uk/auction/sony-vaio-fw11s-16-4-laptop-vista-/130580.html
BID BIDDER TYPE
£208.28 Alecia0211 BidButler
£208.27 Hornet900 SingleBid
£208.26 Alecia0211 BidButler
£208.25 Nikkolino SingleBid
Savings:
Worth up to: £949.99
Placed bids (3797): £1, 518.80
FreeBids (75): £0.00
Final price: £208.28
Savings: £0.00
Then you may think about it. Is it really Alecia0211 who would buy near 4000bids from swoopo? 4000 bids = £1600!! Just think if it was you, would you pay that money?
Also think about the item price, it is worth £949.99, why did Alecia0211 bid 3797 by using BidButler? It means that Alecia0211 might set more higher price in BidButler. If you, would you act as this way or Alecia0211 was one of Swoopo staffs?
In my opinion, I belive that how Swoopo is making money from this way!! Becareful!!
December 21st, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I’ve won an auction so it’s definately not a scam. They are obviously making plenty money for themselves but it’s all totally transparent they are not hiding anything are they?
December 26th, 2008 at 9:59 am
you people who are crying “scam” are a bunch of idiots. the site isn’t a scam, and the rules are pretty simple. that being said, i have found a few inconsistencies.
first of all, for those who don’t like the fact that they are global auctions, i would say “why do you care?” why does it matter? yes, the currency conversions seem a bit off, but nothing that is completely outrageous. people only bring up the global aspect of it when they are trying to cry “scam” and are posting links of the same competition in 2 different places (i.e. co.uk and .com). but that is only because the poster is an idiot and doesn’t understand the way things work.
part of the problem is, you people are failing to see the beauty of swoopo.com, and how it is highlighting the failures of the human psychy. many auctions are ending for more than the items are worth, but there is actually some explanation.
first of all, one needs to check and see what kind of auction it is. there are “100% off” auctions, “fixed price” auctions, “nailbiter” auctions, “penny bid” auctions, and regular auctions.
if you look, most regular auctions have the auction ending for less than the item is worth. this is ideal for the buyer, but is ideal for swoopo.com once an item hits a certain price. using the American rates of $.75 per bid with increases of $.15 per bid, you can find the point at which each item becomes profitable.
using W = item worth, and b = # of bids, the point at which swoopo.com breaks even can be said as: W - .75b - .15b = 0, which ends up showing that W = .9b, and b = (10/9)W.
so, for a playstation 3 worth $400, the price needs to hit $66.66, which is roughly 445 bids. this means that swoopo.com would have generated $333.75 from bids, and if you take $333.75 + $66.75 (the price the user would pay if they won at that exact moment, rounded up), you’d have $400.50, which is just about right to break even. this means that any more bids above $66.75 is profit for swoopo.com in this instance. this is in the case of a regular auction. the formulas change for the penny auction.
an easy way to say it is to just take the final price, multiply that times 5, subtract how much the item is worth, and you see the profit for that item (for regular options, not penny options).
often times, you will see these regular options end up being more money than the item is worth, especially when the winner has used hundreds of bids to win it. this is the beauty of swoopo.com. it shows just how stupid and greedy people are, and shows us how we can’t just quit and cut our losses. the problem is, if you’ve invested $50 or $100 worth of bids, it is going to be extremely hard for you to walk away, as you have invested so much money, and it would be for nothing if you quit now. this is the same concept as a slot machine. people think “i’ve spent $100 which is too much, but it has to hit soon, i just know it. if i quit now, i am just out $100″. they keep pumping the machine as they have become too invested, and swoopo.com is a great way to sit back and watch people do it.
where swoopo.com makes the big money is in its “fixed price” or “100% off” auctions. in these auctions, the winner either wins the prize for “free” or wins for a fixed price (i.e. the winner may pay only $20 for an iPod regardless of how high the price goes). the beauty in these are that, in essence, there is no reason for the auction to ever lose. there is no threshold in which the price can become uneconomical, because for every new bidder, they know exactly how much it will cost them. i saw one auction that was for $1,000 cash, and the price had hit $1,500 (i don’t know why they keep the price on these auctions. it actually makes no sense, as it has nothing to do with the winner. i think it is there to still play with the psychy of the competitors). watching the brief bid history was amazing. people would commit a few hundred bids, thinking “it can’t go any higher”, and then it would. they would bow out, and another would take their place. idiots…
i admit, the “100% off” and “fixed price” auctions are in no way an auction. they are a contest of endurance and stupidity with a hit of strategy. but they aren’t scams. the rules and premise are simple. in fact, they are genius, and i wish i had thought of this earlier. you can capitalize on the greed of our society. it’s delicious to watch.
the one fault i have found is with the bidbutler. i dont think it is working correctly. according to the rules, it should only submit another bid in the last 10 seconds. but i have seen items that have a lot more time than 10 seconds left jump up in price and time due to bidbutler bids. it didn’t work as advertised, which is probably a programming bug.
i have never used swoopo.com, but i love to sit and watch the auctions run. it makes me laugh to know that people are losing their asses for no good reason. i like to see people who are incredibly stupid lose it all, as i think they deserve it. i’ve posted this same thing on several “scam” forums. it’s not a scam.
that being said, there i have found some strategies that i think would win. my advice would be to stay away from any and all “100% off” and “fixed price” bids. these are just bad decisions. i would suggest you find a normal auction, but research and find how high the past 2 auctions got for the same item, and then start bidding when they get about 5% away from the final price of the last one. and only commit maybe $20 or so to each competitions, and stay away from the bidbutler. it detaches you from your money, which is bad.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
The poster above me is correct. This site is not a scam. You all that think it is are fucking retarded. Swoopo actually makes profit from this. Some of the auctions they lose profit but the others, they can gain a huge profit. You idiots are just looking at the price that a laptop or a Wii is sold for and not looking at the rest of the site.
What they do is charge you .75 a bid. Some auctions are fixed price which mean that they sell an iphone 3g for 49.99 rather than the high price that it is. But they make their money off how many bids are placed.
Fucking morons.
December 30th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I’d just like to note three facts:
1) I can see that this can be a gambling game, but there is some confusion over the use of terms like “bid” — you’re “bidding” as in poker (where the amount you bid is deducted from your pocket, win or lose) and NOT bidding as in an auction. This leads to the reason so many people call it a scam “the final bid price” is completely misleading. They may as well call it quatloos or points to be clearer, because it *isn’t* any form of currency, just an arbitrary counter of how many times “the pot has been raised” (in poker parlance).
In fact, it really IS much more like poker than anything else: the real aim of the game is to be the last man standing when everyone else has stopped bidding — as in poker, if you keep bidding until no one calls, you “win”; if you stop bidding while others continue you automatically lose. The catch? In poker you win the pot (all the bids made), but on Swoopo, you only get a product that costs much less than the sum of bids. I wouldn’t play that game.
2) Labeling the index in units of currency as if it were a price is misleading. You aren’t paying that price for anything. It’s just a meaningless counter. It has nothing to do with anything, but people *think* it does, and it is labeled to encourage that illusion of “bargain” — the only bargain is stumbling onto an auction that is ending and which no one is bidding on — and on an international site, that’s not too likely. The arbitrary US$0.15 “raise” per $1 bid is aimed to keep the “final price” low and looking like a bargain for those who don’t see the game
3) The clincher for me: under no circumstances is swoopo ever *obligated* to give you a bargain. You get them at their largesse. Think about it: how much would bidding cost them? nothing. They can bid to $1 million and it would only cost then the cost of electricity for their computer — they’d get to keep everyone else’s bids *plus* the product to sell again later.
I’m not saying that they are doing this (and only dropping a few bargains to get word of mouth), I’m just saying that I wouldn’t play a game whose rules allow the house to always win at their sole discretion.
January 1st, 2009 at 3:59 am
I do not believe it is a scam. It is easy to see how things work. The site sort of feeds off of human competitiveness, and thus the prices can keep going higher and higher. And by increasing the time each time someone bids, it allows for longer auctions, and more bids, and more money. They are making a KILLING off this site. It is a very intuitive idea, and the global ‘auctions’ only make it more so.
The only thing I don’t like is how easily you can click away your money. Without realizing it you can bid 20 times, just trying to beat that other person. Every time you bid, you give them more time to beat you. Eventually one of you has to run out of bids. And you just wasted $40 clicking trying to beat someone else.
It is gambling, and it’s completely voluntary. Because of my compulsive nature, I will be closing my account as soon as I use my bids. Might as well have some fun with them at least.
If you don’t like gambling, stay away from this site, but if you have impeccable timing or maybe some Irish luck, then maybe it’s a good way to save/make some money.
January 1st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
For those interested, check out ripoffreport.com, this is run by consumers for consumers. Start adding your experiences on the site. If enough people get together about the same issue, then you have the power of numbers against them. There are already 2 reports.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:15 am
I just did a one month analysis of an Apple Macbook on Swoopo. I found that Swoopo is profiting about 200% of the value of items delivered. This was only a small field for comparison - based solely on 1 month (December) of auctions for the same brand/model laptop. My findings were that on one item, in 49 auctions, Swoopo pocketed more than $127,000.
There were some interesting finds, such that they only come out ahead on roughly 50% of all auctions. However, those auctions they profit on include several that earned over 20x the wholesale value of the actual computer. On said Macbooks, the bids on the auction only need to reach $12.83 for them to make one penny. Everything beyond that is pure profit. The average value I found was $51.90. This meant that they grossed and average $3894.15 from all the bids placed (@.75 each) plus the $51.90 average ending price. That brings the average gross to $3946.05, and once you take out the cost of the item at Retail Value ($1299) they netted about $2647.08.
Further example, one auction sold for $0.92. This combined with the profit from bids brought the gross to $69.92. Factor in the cost of the laptop, and Swoopo LOST $1228.92. However, this is completely offset by the auctions such as the one ended on 12.01.08. This auction finished at 248.03, which means they stood to gross over 18602.25 (@.75 each)from bidding alone. Then add in the final value of the computer, 248.03, and you have a gross of 18850.28. Factor in the Retail value of the computer, and they netted a $17,551.28 profit.
I think it is pretty clear they are not losing money, however there is a chance to win a laptop at an extremely low value. The lowest I found was the winner of the $0.92 auction. When it was all said and done, shipping included, he had a 1299 dollar laptop for about $26.14. Just don’t be like user Deafdlg and actually bid so high that the cost of bids are 200 more than the actual value of the computer.
If you would like to see more of my findings, and a complete table showing said findings, please view the pdf I published. Not all values are perfect, I already noticed an error in one field after I published the file, however most of them are spot on.
[url=http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/2184751_j4kfy/Swoopo.pdf]Swoopo.pdf[/url]
January 4th, 2009 at 10:30 am
If you are reading this you probably know that Swoopo is a well designed scam. I don’t think the government can shut down the site, but you can certainly do something by sending emails to Paypal not to do business with swoopo.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
This web site could be 100% profit just by programming in a dummy buyer who always beats the last posted bid before the auction closes. Then they could offer items for sale they don’t even have! Does anybody know first hand of a person that has actually won an auction on Swoopo and had the item delivered to them?